Assessing the global contribution of marine aerosols, terrestrial bioaerosols, and desert dust to ice-nucleating particle concentrations
<p><span id="page9086"/>Aerosol–cloud interactions, particularly ice processes in mixed-phase clouds (MPCs), remain a key source of uncertainty in climate change assessments. This study introduces state-of-the-art laboratory-based parameterizations into a global chemistry–trans...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
| Online Access: | https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/25/9085/2025/acp-25-9085-2025.pdf |
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| Summary: | <p><span id="page9086"/>Aerosol–cloud interactions, particularly ice processes in mixed-phase clouds (MPCs), remain a key source of uncertainty in climate change assessments. This study introduces state-of-the-art laboratory-based parameterizations into a global chemistry–transport model to investigate the contributions of mineral dust (specifically K-feldspar and quartz), marine primary organic aerosol (MPOA), and terrestrial primary biological aerosol particles (PBAPs) to ice-nucleating particles (INPs) in MPCs. The model suggests that INPs originating from PBAPs (INP<span class="inline-formula"><sub>PBAP</sub></span>) are the primary source of INPs at low altitudes between <span class="inline-formula">−10</span> and <span class="inline-formula">−20</span> °C, particularly in the tropics, with a pronounced peak in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) during the boreal summer. INP<span class="inline-formula"><sub>PBAP</sub></span> contributes over 40 % of the total simulated INP column burden at midlatitudes. Dust-derived INPs (INP<span class="inline-formula"><sub>D</sub></span>) are prominent at high altitudes across all seasons, dominating at temperatures below <span class="inline-formula">−20</span> °C, and they constitute over 89 % of the INP average column burden at high latitudes in the NH and about 74 % at high latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). MPOA-derived INPs (INP<span class="inline-formula"><sub>MPOA</sub></span>) prevail in the SH at low altitudes, particularly at subpolar and polar latitudes for temperatures above <span class="inline-formula">−20</span> °C, where they represent between 17 % and 36 % of the INP column population, depending on the season. When evaluated against available global observational INP data, the model achieves its highest predictability across all temperature ranges when both INP<span class="inline-formula"><sub>D</sub></span> and INP<span class="inline-formula"><sub>MPOA</sub></span> are included as independent INP sources. The addition of INP<span class="inline-formula"><sub>PBAP</sub></span> does not enhance the model's ability to reproduce the available observations; however, INP<span class="inline-formula"><sub>PBAP</sub></span> remains a key contributor to warm-temperature ice-nucleation events. Therefore, consideration of dust, marine aerosol, and terrestrial bioaerosols as distinct INP species is required to simulate ice nucleation in climate models.</p> |
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| ISSN: | 1680-7316 1680-7324 |